AL East competition helping Yankees

The Baltimore Orioles are starting to fall under the weight of reality as some of their weaknesses are being exposed. They are currently at 12-12 for the month of June and have been outscored by 24 runs this month. The Rays still have some of the fear factor, but losing Evan Longoria leaves too many holes in the lineup. They are now 11-14 in the month of June and have also been outscored this month.

The Red Sox are perhaps another story. Their bullpen has been far better than expected and continue to get surprising work from Franklin Morales as a starting pitcher. They now have a decent rotation and have given up more than twenty runs less in June than they have in the previous two months (granted, with a few more games to play this month). But they are 14-11 this month despite outscoring their opponents by 34 runs in June.

The Yankees got hot just at the opportune time and their 19-6 mark in June has provided some separation from the pack. They do not have to play at such a scorching pace to maintain their advantage. So even with a sudden void in the rotation in two spots, if the Yankees can continue to win three of five games, they should be able to maintain the advantage. But lest we get ahead of ourselves, it should be good to remember that the Dodgers had a commanding lead in the NL West just a couple of weeks ago. It is a long season. July will be an interesting month.

William Tasker grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey but has lived in New England since 1975 and in the far reaches of northern Maine since 1990. Tasker is the author of nine (non-baseball related) books and, besides writing here for three years, has written for his own site at www.passion4baseball.blogspot.com since 2003.